Tsubasa Super Semi
The Tsubasa Super Semi (ツバサスーパーセミ) is a Japanese 4.5×6 folding camera that was made by the company Optochrom. It has a horizontal folding body with incurved struts and a film advance key at the bottom right. The back is embossed TSUBASA SUPER SEMI and has two uncovered red windows to control the film advance. There is a button on the top plate that looks like a shutter release, but it only opens the folding bed See this page of Aya's camera site. , under which the shutter release is hidden. The original model The original model has a folding optical finder. It is advertised from 1938 to 1941. In 1938 — the folding bed opening button is to the left of the top plate, the two decorative knobs on each end are quite flat and there is a choice of two lenses: a Lucomar f:4.5 (¥45) or a Lausar Inferred from the katakana ローザー f:4.5 (¥50, case ¥5 or ¥6 extra). The shutter is a Tsubasa with T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds. At the beginning of 1939 This advertisement is looking the same as the one dated September 1938 cited above, but there are some detail differences. the body is similar but the Lausar lens choice has disappeared. Later the same year — the opening button has moved to the right, maybe to look more like a true body release, and the decorative knobs look higher, with a more conical shape. It is still advertised in 1940 and 1941 for ¥58, apparently unchanged. The Tsubasa Super Semi observed thus far (see for example the links below) have the high conical knobs, a Lucomar Anastigmat 75/4.5 lens and an everset shutter with T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds. The shutter plate is marked TSUBASA SHUTTER at the top, with a NE logo between the two words, and NEW GOLD at the bottom, these markings are the same as the advertising pictures. mentions that the shutter is called Kikō (キコー) instead of Tsubasa in some 1941 advertisements. Kikō is an acronym of Kigawa Kōgaku, the later name of Optochrom. The Rondex The Rondex (ロンデックス) is certainly a name variant of the Tsubasa Super Semi. It is described in , saying that it is featured in the new products section of the May 1940 issue of Asahi Camera. The camera pictured is indistinguishable from the Tsubasa Super Semi except for the presence of an accessory shoe to the left of the viewfinder. The characteristics of the lens and shutter are the same, but they have different names says ロンデー for the lens and ロンパー, maybe "Rompur", for the shutter. . attributes this camera to Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten (山下友治郎商店), but it was probably only the distributor. The Tsubasa II Super Semi The Tsubasa II Super Semi (ツバサⅡ型スーパーセミ) has a direct vision eye level finder and a waist level brilliant finder, both under a short top housing. The rest of the camera is very similar except maybe the shutter plate markings. This model is advertised in 1940 with a Lucomar f:4.5 lens for ¥60. Its successor was certainly the Tsubasa Kiko III. Notes Printed bibliography * Items 144, 146–52 and 344. Links In Japanese: * * Tsubasa Super Semi at Aya's camera site * The Tsubasa Super Semi in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology Category: Japanese 4.5x6 viewfinder folding Category: T